The Humber Hydrogen Network took place on the 25th January at CATCH. Our guest chair for the session was Lee Adcock, Environment and Sustainability Director at British Steel and member of the Humber Industrial Cluster Plan steering group. Lee opened the meeting, welcoming attendees in the room and online.
The Humber Hydrogen Network took place on the 25th January at CATCH. Our guest chair for the session was Lee Adcock, Environment and Sustainability Director at British Steel and member of the Humber Industrial Cluster Plan steering group. Lee opened the meeting, welcoming attendees in the room and online.
The Humber Hydrogen Network took place on the 25th January at CATCH. Our guest chair for the session was Lee Adcock, Environment and Sustainability Director at British Steel and member of the Humber Industrial Cluster Plan steering group. Lee opened the meeting, welcoming attendees in the room and online.
Sally Brewis, kicked off the proceedings with an East Coast Hydrogen update, which is a hydrogen Network Project between Candent Gas, Northern Gas Networks, National Grid. The project covers moving Hydrogen to the places its needed. The first stages concentrating on heavy industry, transport and power generation. This is 15 year major UK infrastructure project. The pre feed study has taken place, and the feedback is being collated to launch in Westminster on the 5th July 2023. Sally also detailed possible network growth including the Midlands freeport zone and potential for future Hydrogen town development. At a request from BEIS, North Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire have been selected as inital locations if the decision is made by government in 2026 to proceed. Cadent have engaged with the top 120 top gas users in region to understand hydrogen demand forecasts.
Next Lee welcomed Jon Regnart, senior policy advisor & working group lead for transport and industry - Hydrogen UK, to give a presentation on the UK strategy on Hydrogen. Jon explained that Hydrogen UK is a trade association spanning across whole value chain, using deep technical and economic insight to promote polices that grow the hydrogen economy representing a diverse range of companies in the UK hydrogen industry. Jon updated the network on the UK current strategy. The Net Zero ‘Skidmore’ review was released two weeks ago provided 130 recommendations with 4-5 directly associated with hydrogen. Key takeaways were - a 10 year delivery road map for the scaling up of hydrogen production. A swift delivery of the hydrogen business models through the urgent passage of the energy bill. Deliver suitable transport and storage business models as soon as possible in 2023. The future system operators (FSO) should develop a system plan for hydrogen. BEIS are focused on ramping up productions and testing solutions In hard to abate areas. Jon discussed the Hydrogen demand profile in industry and concluded that this is a “quick win for industry” to decarbonise. NG and CCC expect considerable national demand from hydrogen in industry, growing to 2050. However production, policy and infrastructure targets must be hit to achieve the ambitions forecasts. Jon then advised the group that Hydrogen UK will be launching a report in Q2 detailing the Importance of Hydrogen storage and energy system and policy.
After a short break Philip Gothard, Philipps 66, who is part of the Decarbonisation group, Humber refinery – technical delivery of major decarbonisation projects team discussed the four strands Phillips 66 have in focus - Production of fuels from waste , supporting electric car supply chain through production of graphite, utilising carbon capture and using hydrogen to power the refinery. Next Philip have an update on the Gigastack - the UKs leading electrolytic hydrogen project. Green hydrogen production utilizing Hornsea 2 offshore wind to refuel industrial furnaces at the Humber Refinery. The project is in feed engineering with selected engineering and environmental contractors in place. The project is targeted to be online in 2025. At the moment this is self-funded consortium between Philipps 66 and Orsted.
Philip then gave insight into their research into Fuel switching of industrial heaters. £1M study supported by UKRI IETF fund. The scope looked at initial design and capital cost, including safety and system control, thermal rating assessment of heaters, Computation Fluid Dynamics Study and the actual burners. Multiple burner types were tested, with levels of hydrogen blended up to 100% . Currently drafting public report based on findings, however in the main Hydrogen refueling to a high % of hydrogen is feasible and has very encouraging retro fit option. The report is due Q1 this year.
Katie Hedges then gave a quick update for the Humber Industrial Cluster Plan. The project is now in the final stages, and will be launching in March, just before the project finishes. Our Lot 1 report is available on line, which details the Net Zero Emissions Pathways – Humber Cluster. The next meeting is on the 15th February, and is chaired by Jade Fernandez, SSE. CATCH will continue to operate the Hydrogen and Decarbonisation networks for Members – more information is available here.
